The decision to move the upcoming UCP leadership vote to a mail-in ballot system will ultimately work in the NDPs favour ahead of the next provincial election, according to Danielle Smith..Smith, the former leader for the Wildrose Party, spoke on theWestern Standard’sTriggered with Cory Morgan on Thursday..Morgan and Smith discussed their “collective trauma” over the mail-in ballot leadership election in 2009 that saw Smith take the helm for the Wildrose Party..At the time, Morgan was involved with the Wildrose Party and said there were approximately 11,000 members and roughly 8,000 participated in the leadership vote. Even with months to prepare, both Smith and Morgan agreed the process “was a mess.”.Smith said one problem with resorting to a mail-in ballot system makes it difficult for those in rural areas as mailing addresses are different from actual physical addresses..“The second part of the problem is getting that turned around,” said Smith..Smith said getting the ballots on time, turning around and getting them sent back before the deadline is challenging and can lead to people feeling disenfranchised and can raise suspicions with people questioning, “did my ballot get counted?”.“It seems to me like all of those experiences just affirm for me that the only way you can have integrity in a voting process that is fair to the candidates, that’s fair to the members, that makes it that everyone feels like it’s on the up and up is for it to be in-person,” said Smith..Smith suggested with the amount of special general meeting (SGM) registrations, the UCP had a sufficient budget to set up in-person voting stations in all the major centers..“That would address the issue of the number of people who need to be accommodated, but I’m trying to wrap my head around how they’re going to get the ballots printed and turned around by May 18, I think is the date that they are talking about,” said Smith..Smith said the purpose behind a leadership review is to have “a lot of enthusiasm and support demonstrated for your current leader” to help build momentum heading into an election year..“If there’s nothing but concern, and it’s just people casting doubt on whatever the outcome is what they announced, that’s going to have the exact opposite effect,” said Smith..Election planning, Smith believes, will begin shortly after this leadership vote and with a fixed election date in May 2023, she feels this will “create a bunch of unnecessary bad feelings” and take away from the campaign momentum needed..Smith called Premier Jason Kenney a “formidable campaigner” calling his record not all bad..“When you look at the economy and the amount of investment coming into the province, this is all very positive,” said Smith..She said where he “got into trouble” was his back and forth handling of the pandemic which “alienated a lot of people” with the introduction of vaccine passports..Smith said Kenney was facing trouble previous to the pandemic as well with the Alberta agenda to get tougher on Ottawa and oppose Equalization..“I think the fact that he hasn’t challenged Ottawa, that’s a bigger problem for him,” said Smith..Smith believes members would like to see Kenney stand up for his record with confidence and acknowledged he still holds a “large share of support from his existing members” but said she doesn’t see it being enough to defeat Rachel Notley and the NDP in the 2023 election..“Do you really want to go into the election saying, ‘well, we’ve got to stay with who we’ve got, because we’ve now run out of time to have that question?'” said Smith..Smith said she worries with UCP MLA Brian Jean making it known he would like to take another run at leading the UCP, this could lead to splitting the party apart..She’s also concerned many members are distrustful of the process and spoke of the possibility of membership sales continuing after April 1, “because that’s when the new legislation comes through that allows for people to buy 400 memberships without the knowledge of an individual.”.“So, you can have an organization sign up for 400 of their members and presumably order mail-in ballots on their behalf,” said Smith..She also spoke of testimony saying Kenney was involved in discussions to run Jeff Callaway as a “so-called Kamikaze candidate for the sole purpose of ruining Brian Jean’s chances,” and said the rumour mill is causing distrust among members..“Having this unsettled issue gives members in the NDP party the advantage. They are totally unified,” said Smith..Smith said she believes the best way to deal with these concerns and bring integrity to the process is to have an “open fair robust process” and said an in-person vote with an auditor is necessary..“So, for the longer this remains unsettled and the more infighting or is it just ends up impairing the party’s ability to get ready for May of 2023.”.And, with the suggestion there could be 43,000 votes, Smith said she doesn’t think the party is clear “what they have signed themselves up for.”.Melanie Risdon is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.mrisdon@westernstandardonline.com
